Sinbad: Legend of the Seven Seas
| runtime = 85 minutes | country = United States | language = English | budget = $60 million | gross = $80,767,884 }} Sinbad: Legend of the Seven Seas is a 2003 American animated swashbuckling fantasy adventure film produced by DreamWorks Animation and distributed by Dreamworks Pictures, using traditional animation with some computer animation. It covers the story of Sinbad (voiced by Brad Pitt), a pirate who travels the sea to recover the lost Book of Peace from Eris (voiced by Michelle Pfeiffer) in order to save his childhood friend, Prince Proteus (voiced by Joseph Fiennes), from accepting Sinbad's death sentence. This would be Dreamworks Animation's last traditional animated film, before moving on from traditional animation to full computer animated films like Shrek 2. Plot Sinbad and his pirate crew attempts to steal the magical, mystical "Book of Peace" while it travels to Syracuse, Sicily, protected by Proteus. Proteus was once Sinbad's best friend as a child and he tells him if it ever meant anything he can prove it. Sinbad tries to steal the book anyway, but is prevented when Cetus attacks the ship. The two work together to fight off Cetus and for a moment reaffirm their bond. Just when it seems the beast is defeated, Sinbad is dragged off the ship. Proteus goes to save Sinbad, but as he is royalty he is stopped by his crew. Drawn underwater by Cetus, Sinbad is saved by Eris, the beautiful Goddess of Discord, who offers him any boon he desires in exchange for the Book of Peace. Sinbad and his crew go to Syracuse to steal the Book; but leave without doing so. Anticipating this, Eris impersonates Sinbad and steals the Book. Sinbad is sentenced to be executed, whereupon Proteus sends Sinbad to retrieve the Book instead, placing himself as hostage, and Proteus' fiancée Marina goes to make sure that Sinbad succeeds. To prevent them from succeeding, Eris sends a group of mythical sirens, who entrance and seduce the men aboard Sinbad's ship with their hypnotic singing voices, but do not affect Marina, who pilots the ship to safety. She later sends a Roc to capture Marina, but it is killed by Sinbad. After these and other incidents, Sinbad and Marina enter Eris' realm, where she reveals that her plan was to maneuver Proteus into Sinbad's place, leaving Syracuse without an heir, and agrees to surrender the Book of Peace only if Sinbad truthfully tells whether he will return to Syracuse to accept blame and be executed. She gives him her word that she will honour the deal making it unbreakable even for a god. When he answers that he will, Eris calls him a liar, and returns him and Marina to the mortal world. Sinbad is ashamed and he admits Eris is right and that he truly believes deep down he is a selfish liar. In Syracuse, the time allotted to Sinbad has elapsed, and Proteus is to be beheaded; but at the last minute, Sinbad appears to replace him. Angered by this, Eris saves him by shattering the executioner's sword to pieces, and quarrels with him for his honesty. Sinbad, shocked, realizes he actually told the truth during her test and she misjudged him. Eris is furious but as part of the deal with Sinbad, she reluctantly gives the Book to him before disappearing. With the Book restored to Syracuse, Sinbad and his crew leave Syracuse on another voyage, leaving Marina behind. Proteus sees that Marina has fallen deeply in love with Sinbad, so he releases her from their engagement and sends her to join Sinbad's ship. Cast * Brad Pitt as the voice of Sinbad * Catherine Zeta-Jones as the voice of Marina * Michelle Pfeiffer as the voice of Eris * Joseph Fiennes as the voice of Proteus * Dennis Haysbert as the voice of Kale * Adriano Giannini as the voice of Rat * Timothy West as the voice of King Dymas * Jim Cummings as the voice of Luca * Frank Welker as the voice of Spike Production Sinbad is the first film to be produced fully using the Linux operating system. The monsters and the backgrounds in the film are mostly computer-generated, while the human characters are hand-drawn. Release Marketing A PC game based on the film was released by Atari, who worked closely with one of the film's directors, Patrick Gilmore. It was released prior to the VHS and DVD release of the film. Burger King released six promotional toys at the time of the film's release, and each toy came with a "Constellation Card" Hasbro Inc. produced a series of Sinbad figures as part of its G.I. JOE action figure brand. The figures were 12" tall and came with a mythical monster. Reception Critical response The film received mixed reviews from critics. Rotten Tomatoes reported that 45% of its critics gave positive reviews based on 121 reviews. Metacritic gave the film a 48/100 approval rating based on 33 reviews. However, Roger Ebert gave the film 3 stars and concluded that, "Sinbad: Legend of the Seven Seas is another worthy entry in the recent renaissance of animation, and in the summer that has already given us Finding Nemo, it's a reminder that animation is the most liberating of movie genres, freed of gravity, plausibility, and even the matters of lighting and focus. There is no way that Syracuse could exist outside animation, and as we watch it, we are sailing over the edge of the human imagination". That the film removed the story from its Arabic context and places it in a Greek setting earned it some criticism. Jack Shaheen, a critic of Hollywood's portrayal of Arabs, believes that "the studio feared financial and possibly political hardships if they made the film's hero Arab", and claimed that "If no attempt is made to challenge negative stereotypes about Arabs, the misperceptions continue. It's regrettable that the opportunity wasn't taken to change them, especially in the minds of young people". At one point, Shaheen asked Katzenberg to include some references to Arabic culture in the film. Katzenberg was so disappointed with the results of the film's performance, he later stated, "I think the idea of a traditional story being told using traditional animation is likely a thing of the past." Box office On the film's opening weekend, the film earned $6,874,477 for a $2,227 average from 3,086 theaters, and $10,056,980 since its Wednesday start. It reached sixth place at the box office and faced early competition to Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines, Legally Blonde 2: Red, White & Blonde, Charlie's Angels: Full Throttle, Finding Nemo and Hulk. The film rapidly declined with a 37% second-week plunge to $4,310,834 for a $1,396 average from 3,086 theaters and finishing seventh. The film closed on October 9, 2003 after earning $26,483,452 domestically with $54,284,432 overseas for a worldwide total of $80,767,884. Soundtrack Cyclops Island Cyclops Island is an interactive short animated film on the DVD, featuring an encounter with the eponymous Cyclops. Gallery SINBAD LEGEND OF THE SEVEN SEAS.jpg Trivia * It is paired with The Great Longneck Migration. * The previews can be found on VHS and DVD. * The trailer can be found in The Great Longneck Migration, and Beethoven's 5th. References External links * * * * * Category:2003 films Category:American animated films Category:2003 animated films Category:DreamWorks Animation animated films Category:Children's fantasy films Category:American fantasy films Category:2000s fantasy films Category:DreamWorks films Category:Sinbad the Sailor Category:Films directed by Tim Johnson Category:Animation Category:Films without opening credits Category:Films with instrumental credit music Category:Standalone films Category:Box Office Bombs Category:DreamWorks Category:2000s films Category:Animated features released by DreamWorks SKG Category:DreamWorks Animation films Category:DreamWorks Pictures films Category:Rated PG movies Category:DVD Category:VHS Category:Films set in Europe Category:Films set in Italy Category:Films set in Greece Category:Films with Humans